Scotland Under-21 were denied an unlikely victory in Senec last night after conceding a last-minute goal just as it looked like a breakaway strike from Ryan Fraser, the Bournemouth winger, would secure a morale-boosting win.
Billy Stark’s side needed two wins from their final two games to be in with a chance of reaching the play-off places for Euro 2015, but in truth their chances always were slim. After Fraser’s second-half strike it looked like Scotland would grab a backs-to-the-wall victory, keeping their hopes alive only for a late Ondrej Duda goal to force them to settle for a point, which means they cannot now finish second.
Stark made five changes from the side that were thrashed 6-1 by Holland in May. Ryan Gauld, Craig Slater, Clark Robertson, Lewis Macleod and Ryan Jack all started at Slovakia’s National Training Centre.
The home side were boosted by the news that the Dutch had surprisingly lost at home earlier to Georgia, so a win would put them level with Holland at the top of the group and it took a superb block from Stuart Findlay, of Celtic, to stop David Hudak’s close-range shot from giving Slovakia the lead.
Scotland suffered a blow midway through the half when Clark Robertson, the Aberdeen full back, limped off with a suspected thigh injury. Robertson had only just come back from a long-term knee injury too. He was replaced by Stephen Hendrie, of Hamilton Academical, for his Scotland Under-21 debut.
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Anatoli Zhabchenko, the Ukranian referee, then had to stop the game after he injured himself. He limped off clutching his calf and was replaced by Sergil Lysenchuk, the fourth official.
Findlay made another important block just before the break right in front of goal to prevent Patrik Hrosovsky from shooting and it kept the match level at half-time.
Adam Zrelak, the Slovakia striker, should have given his side the lead in the 62nd minute when he volleyed over from close range, with the Scots screaming for an offside call.
And Scotland stunned their hosts with the breakthrough in the 67th minute thanks to a fantastic counterattack. Macleod split the Slovakia defence with an exquisite pass to release Fraser. The former Aberdeen winger coolly rounded the keeper before tapping the ball into the empty net from an angle.
Archer made a series of saves as Slovakia desperately pressed forward in search of an equaliser and they finally got it when Duda beat Archer with a low drive right at the end.